Who Should Vote?

Democracy is a great political innovation. Being able to voice your opinion and having a say in who and how a country is run is powerful and leading to far greater social reform and happiness.

However, a significant number of people freely choose not to vote. Further, many people vote along a party or historical line and attach their vote to a specific issue. In many cases, the reason for supporting (or opposing) an issue is not very clear as the voter has not spent much time understanding their view or the other.

Is it time to change the way we allow people to vote?
In Canada, once you reach 18, you are allowed to vote as long as you are a Canadian citizen. That's it. You magically become eligible to vote! Why are there no other requirements to be able to vote?

First, I don't like the 'regional representation' model of Canadian politics. Years ago, this made sense because travel and communication were limited. However, nowadays voters can easily vote on specific issues and don't necessarily need to be 'regionally' recognized. In fact, if political parties were assigned seats based on national support, minority parties would actually receive more seats since their support is usually thinly spread out and unable to gain power in any one region. Further, some voters may not vote for their preferred party recognizing that their vote will be useless if they are in a minority. Also, this would prevent 'defensive' voting (ie. voting Liberal just to make sure Conservatives don't get a lot of votes even though you support Green).

Professional Voters
I think voting on important issues requires an educated voter. The main problem with Democracy is that anyone can vote, even those who know little about the issue they are voting for! I'd like to see a system where people are required to learn about issues and then earn the right to vote on it. This class of people would become 'qualified' or even 'expert' voters.

The idea is to have a test that neutrally presents the sides of an issue. A potential voter must answer questions that show they understand the arguments being presented and then earn the privilege to vote. This does not mean that uninformed people cannot voice opinions, it simply means they don't vote.

Deciding Issues
Take the issue of Evolution in America. Should Americans 'vote' on whether it is taught in public schools? There are arguments for and against teaching evolution. However, due to the low levels of science education in America, does it make sense to have citizens, illiterate in evolution, to decide whether it's taught?

Imagine critics of evolution want to remove it from the curriculum. To gain support for their idea, they would need to educate those who agree with them not just on the anti-evolution arguments, but also the pro-evolution argument because they know the potential voter must pass a questionnaire to see if they really understand the issue. Only those who do will be allowed to vote on it!

My goal with this idea is to get public policy issues passed by those who are most qualified to decide them. This is very similar to the peer review process in science. In fact, it should ensure that future policies are decided by scientific methods and not on rhetorical arguments. Would you vote for that?

DPRJones is Back... but where's FrankReturns?

Yes! Justice is served!

DPRJones was suspended (apparently, permanently) two days ago because he received the third inappropriate video-flagging in a short period of time. Anyone who has reviewed the subject videos is aware that they did not breach any YouTube guidelines and were 'false-flagged'. Many of us suspected FrankReturns was responsible for the false-flagging campaign.

And now, in a supreme act of pwnage... DPRJones' account is back and FrankReturns has been suspended... AWESOME!

Funny, I sent FrankReturns a message yesterday that simply said, "Goodbye, FrankReturns". My prediction was true! All hail ME, the new Messiah!

Then again, leave me alone, I'm busy buying lottery tickets...

Jesus is Everywhere!

Special report to the HumanistDad Blog

The Glory of Jesus Appears In Man's Toilet

Carole Rose Andersen-Polata
Religion Writer

A man has refused to flush his toilet after seeing the image of Jesus in it. Paul Orland Oderkirk, 48, from Ontario has had a steady stream of onlookers coming by his house and asking to go into his bathroom. "It's all a bit overwhelming," says Oderkirk, a long-haul truck driver, "people keep knocking on the door and offering money to see it."

According to Oderkirk, the image appeared shortly after eating dinner. "I decided to eat some KFC after gettin' back from Idaho over the weekend with my load of corn and I suddenly had a real urge to use the bathroom. I almost didn't get my pants off!" Oderkirk says he sat down just in time and barely had a chance to grab a nearby copy of Playboy when he experienced an life-changing sense of relief. "I remember thinking, 'God that feels good' but, man, the smell started to burn my eyes! That fried chicken seems to come out greasier than it goes in."

Oderkirk said he felt a great shiver after the initial onslaught and is convinced the Holy Spirit entered him right then. "I leaned back against the tank breathed out a great gust of air and found myself wiping a handfull of 2-ply over my forehead 'cause the sweat was starting to run down my face." Feeling a bit dizzy, Oderkirk had to grab onto the towel bar to get himself off. It was when he turned to unroll some toilet paper that he saw the image in the bowl before his eyes, "It was a miracle!"

There, in the bowl, was the image of a praying Jesus. "It weren't no accident either, he even had some whole corn kernels for eyes!" Oderkirk rushed to tell his neighbour, a minister at the local Presbyterian church. "Next time," Oderkirk recalled, "I'll put me pants back on first. The Minister and his wife weren't none too pleased at first."

The Minister, who still goes by his old army name, Sgt. Harry I. Treadbottom says he refused to go with Oderkirk. "There was no way I was going to let some burly half-naked man drag me off to his bathroom to look at an unflushed toilet. I don't care what he says!"

After the police arrived, pictures were taken of the Holy feces and no charges will be brought down upon Oderkirk. However, word has spread of the Holy sighting and Oderkirk is not sure what the future will bring. "All's I can say is that I'm going to need another bathroom in me house since I can't use that one no more."

Oderkirk has not ruled out selling the Holy find on Ebay but he's not sure how to ship it.

Atheists on TV

From the Australian TV show Compass, we have a documentary, "Atheism - An Australian Perspective".

They chose to talk with 'moderate' atheists and present a good, touchy-feely viewpoint. The atheists interviewed hint that religion is necessary for many people and we need to learn to all get along. I don't disagree with this view but I think it should have been said that people are free to have religion but they must recognize its place: keep it personal. The only truce I can see with religion is if the religious accept that they keep their religion applying only to themselves and not attempting to enforce it on others - which, of course, especially applies to the children of the religious!

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:

The BEST Church of God

This is a funny 'debate' between the congregants of 'The Best Church of God' and Sunsara Taylor. I've never heard of Sunsara Taylor but if she's been on The O'Reilly Factor and he didn't like her, it's probably someone worth checking out!

Best Church of God -- Debate with Sunsara Taylor

For an amateur skit, I thought they did an excellent job. I especially liked the introduction of the first man, "he owns a hardware store, a gun and a woman!"

Thanks to The Barefoot Bum for the link!

Venomfangx Gone?

Venomfangx has just released a short video about death threats his family has received. His website has also gone down. He's blamed atheists for threats in the past so it's odd he's blaming Muslims this time. I don't remember him ever directly attacking Muslims in his videos:



As much as I'd like to see his videos and 'ministry' disappear (and maybe he get some mental help) I certainly couldn't support crazy death threats. But, it makes me wonder, why would Muslims pick on him? Is he trying to find someone to blame for his parents yanking the website? Always something weird going on with Venomfangx...

Carl Sagan on Charlie Rose

I haven't blogged in awhile (arguing with theists a lot on Facebook!) but here's an interview I found of Carl Sagan, on Charlie Rose TV, before he died:

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3